today is a photo day: pink gate

[rm 212] end-of-the-year celebration

It’s been quoted that yesterday Room 212 put on the best awards ceremony EVER! Yes, we pulled it off and it was amazing! I’m so glad it went well. The past week or so, my students have been hard at work putting together our celebration. We’ve been working on our portfolios that show all the work we’ve been doing this school year. We made “All About Me” posters. We made graduation caps. We made a huge “WELCOME TO OUR CELEBRATION” poster. It was wonderful. The students worked really hard and were especially focused today during the entire celebration. I’m so proud of them! I’m also very proud of all the families that turned out for the celebration. 11 out of 13 students had family members there and if you include brothers/cousins from across the hall, 13 out of 13 students had family members there. It was awesome to see how much support our students get from their families. I just love my class!

Welcome!

All the families

{berkeley} carillon playing

Hello everyone!

I am back! This past semester, I had the privilege of taking a class on the carillon. What is the carillon, you say? The carillon is an instrument made up of levers attached to bells at the top of bell towers. UC Berkeley has a carillon at the top of our 307 foot campanile tower comprised of 61 massive bells, weighing between 19 and 10,500 pounds. My final carillon concert was a couple weeks ago — take a look!

Me playing the carillon!  I played “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid at a much slowed pace — it is quite difficult to press those levers quickly.

What the carillon looks like with no one playing. It is a series of levers that you hit with your hands and pedals to play with you feet

The Berkeley carillon bells!

Until next time,
Attrace

{san antonio} the governor’s palace

Happy 4 year anniversary little blog!

The Spanish Governor’s Palace is a registered national historic landmark. It is the last visual homage to the Presidio San Antonio de Béjer and the original residence and working office of the Captains of the military garrison from 1722 until the early 1800s. Essentially, this is where the Spanish commanded their presence in Texas. Since the building was used over a long period of time, it was expanded and renovated a number of times. Of note, the original two rooms were eventually expanded to include many more. In 1821 when the Spanish lost control of Texas and Mexico, the Palace became a military post. In the late 1800s and into the 1900s, the compound became a place of business. Over time, it housed a number of different businesses including a pawn shop, a wholesale produce store, and a clothing store. Now, the Palace has been restored and offers visitors (for a small fee) the opportunity to learn about Texan history and walk back in time!

A Spanish palatial photo adventure:

{san antonio} along the riverwalk

In the early 1900s, the San Antonio River was a dirty, muddy eyesore. Luckily, the city banded together to create the City Beautiful Movement, with ambitious beautification goals. After the massive 1921 flood, the newly formed San Antonio Conservation Society sought the help of architect Robert H. H. Hugman, who created a beautiful Riverwalk project for the city. The River Walk was finally completed in 1941. Eventually, the River Walk was expanded to a 13-mile greenbelt stretching from Brackenridge Park south to Mission Espada.

When I first found out I was going to San Antonio, my friend told me that there are 2 things worth seeing there: the Alamo and the Riverwalk. For sure, she was right about the Riverwalk because it was absolutely beautiful. It’s amazing to think you can be surrounded by so much nature when you’re smack in the middle of a city. It’s even more awesome that all the buildings along the Riverwalk really do utilize that to their advantage and it almost seems that there are two floors/levels to the city.

A beautiful riverwalk photo adventure: